


Connections and Correlations

by Silvermoonphantom



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Medical Jargon, Nonbinary Character, Other, Slow Burn, The Skeld (Among Us), connecting the dots, gay pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26788780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvermoonphantom/pseuds/Silvermoonphantom
Summary: Data points start to stack up, and Brown has always been good at connecting the dots.He’s also pretty good at being a gay disaster, so there’s that.
Relationships: Brown/Purple (Among Us), Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)
Comments: 71
Kudos: 298





	1. The first data points

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Exam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26776165) by Anonymous. 



> Just a heads-up; I specialize in suspense and body horror. This fic starts out sweet an fluffy, but at this point I've given up trying to keep 'Horror/Suspense' elements out of my writing. There's a killer alien aboard, so there will be graphic violence eventually.   
> However, I will never write dub-con or non-con. You don't have to worry about that changing.

Like a huge cat exhaling one last time before drifting to sleep, the Skeld’s activity settled and slowed as the hours waned. Humans, after all, needed a regular sleep schedule to stay mentally fit. 

Brown knew this better than most, the medical patch on his suit matched to the symbol on the pen he was absently clicking open and closed.   
That didn’t stop him from staying late in his Medbay to pour over the results his latest scan had compiled. 

Visor up, back slumped far lower in his chair than was healthy, he kept himself in a deliberately relaxed pose to fight the mounting alarm pounding in his chest. The mirror-finish on his helmet reflected scrolling text spelling the impossible. Electrical activity. Blood type. Bacterial colonies. Average body heat at the time of scan. 

Everything the medbay scanner could document through their suit was lit brightly on the screen. 

His own stats read as he expected them, and beside it he compared Purple’s latest readings. 

They’d had to do the “quick” version instead of the deep scan, Purple’s phobia rearing up hard enough to send them tumbling off the scanner pad.

The pen in his hand clicked anxiously.

What readings they had were… impossible. 

Height and body measurements were within normal parameters for someone of their age, but their weight was far higher than was physically possible. Brown was within an inch of height to Purple, and knew he had more muscle mass, but Purple was still nearly fifty pounds heavier. 

Dense. 

He clicked the pen

Blood type: O-

Rare, but not unheard of. It would make sense for Purple to show a fear of needles I’d they’d dealt with folks hounding them to donate blood. He heard horror stories of folks trying to bully the rare blood types into transfusions they weren’t ready for. 

But- 

The pen clicked. 

Brown knew-

_KNEW_

That Purple had dark brown eyes when they lifted their visor for the first time. He’d had a whole gay panic about how unfairly beautiful their face was.

But the scanner’s results said in uncompromising letters: Red eyes. 

Possible albinism? Injury?

No, he was sure he’d seen brown. Clear white sclera without broken blood vessels. 

He was _certain._

The pen clicked a few times rapid fire. 

The bacteria colonies were all off - too high in some strains. Absent in others. Hosting a few he’d never seen a person carry before. One strain he didn’t even recognize despite his speciality and familiarity in reading these scans. 

Finally, there was the matter of sleep. 

It was early in the morning. He should be sleeping, but after seeing these insane readings he spent the last hour carefully sorting through the red tape necessary to access crew members personal activity trackers. He submitted a few data points the Main scanner had given him, and they were such outliers that he got an automatic approval. A follow-up from the automation system requested a follow-up on the crew members situation as it developed. 

  
Click. 

Their Heartbeat was insanely arrhythmic compared to baseline. 

Click. 

Blood pressure so high they should have been unconscious or dead. 

Click

But Purple just fidgeted, apologized. 

It was a personal issue, they said.   
Thanks for not prying, they said. 

Click.

Beep! 

Access granted.

So here he was, prying. 

Brown sighed and dragged himself upright. He flexed his shoulders and rolled a couple cracks out of his spine as the map of the ship filled his screen. His eyes flicked to the list of crew members, names disguised as colors.

Everyone was asleep in their room, except for Lime who he knew was managing a stimulant addiction, himself, and-

Purple. 

Brown lingered on the profile picture longer than was strictly professional. He shouldn’t pry into their daily lifestyle behind their back, but… Purple’s eyes were brown, just like their planetside medical profile stated. 

Their planetside profile was also documented by hand - before scanners had become so commonplace. 

He opened Purple’s activity tracker. It was a small thing on everyone’s suit, just to keep track of the baseline stats and alert Medical If something was far outside it. It was especially handy for patients who were at risk for things like hypoglycemia, anaphylactic shock, or seizures. He’d be able to respond quickly to an alert like that. The Skeld wasn’t very large. 

Click. 

Purple’s tracker showed their resting heart rate was that same triplicate arrhythmia. As if their heart had three chambers instead of four. 

Graphs showed it speeding up or slowing down, but never changing pattern enough to indicate it was a personal abnormality. 

Click 

In sleep, people’s heart rates slowed dramatically. Blood pressure lowered. 

A clearly measurable drop in body temperature as organic systems relaxed and repaired. 

Purple’s chart never saw that drop for longer than a few minutes at a time. Either the tracker was broken, or Purple never slept. 

Click. 

Brown set the pen up on his desk. 

He stared at the numbers for a long time, and felt the dim lights and cool hiss of air through the ship’s vents weighing down on him. 

This was Important.

Something was very wrong with Purple. 

He should…. 

His finger hovered over the “Patient Emergency” button that would force a connection between his station and planetside. Set off alarms to get Purple help. 

He could still picture their face, scared and hesitant, apologetic after avoiding the check in for days. 

Brown gently tapped the screen, and sets of data steadily closed out. 

Turned off the console. 

He lowered the lights in his lab, and a brisk walk that toured him through each of the rooms of the ship. Back in Cafeteria, Lime reported not seeing Purple all night. Not since the night change and everyone headed to bed.

Brown thanked her and headed up to the rooms. 

As usual, Purple’s bunk was empty. Still made, as if they’d never touched it. 

Brown laid awake for a long time.

Something was very wrong with Purple.

Around him, the movement of other sleeping crew members made soft sounds in breaths and shifting fabric. 

The vent in the corner rattled slightly. 


	2. Taking a sample

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character building! Whoo~  
> Fleshin' out the crew.

Brown woke to the sound of Lime’s shouts ringing down the corridors. 

He woke blearily, already regretting how few hours he’d managed to sleep through. Lime yelled again, and Brown unlatched himself from the sling that kept them secured to their bunks. 

Walking into the cafeteria, he let himself yawn as he surveyed the situation.

By the food preparation stations, Red and Blue were having an animated, hand-waving argument with Lime. For some reason, bags of ingredients were spread in the table between them, flour and sauces alike sitting in taut plastic pouches. They jiggled like jellies when Lime smacked the table with her palm for emphasis. 

“I’m _telling_ you, there’s no difference! The ‘bots just _assemble_ the pre-measured ingredients! They don’t _conjure_ it-”

“And _I’m_ saying that the food is bland and tasteless! The robots have no idea what good pizza is supposed to taste like!” Red interrupted her, and added “Look, if one of us made the pizza it’d be so much better.”

Blue just nodded to agree with Red. 

“IT’S LITERALLY THE SAME INGReDIENTS!” Lime’s voice cracked. 

“Then they’re broken!” Red insisted. 

Lime leaned her back into an impressive arch, hands clawing up to the sky as she made an inarticulate noise of rage. 

Brown sighed. This again. 

He wondered when Lime would snap and tweak the cafeteria’s food prep stations to dump an unholy amount of pepper into Red’s food. She’d been grumping for weeks about Red constantly submitting complaint tickets over the ‘disrepair’ of the cafeteria’s meal-maker bots. He grabbed a cup of coffee and dumped cream in it until the swirls matched his suit color. 

Black sidled up beside him to nab some sugar for her own cup. 

“I don’t know how they have this much energy in the morning.” Brown sighed, and Black nodded solemnly. She was one of the few onboard who refused to lift her visor while on duty. He’d seen her face a few times when White invited him to drink with the pair, and Black’s endless calm only ever seemed to be broken by the older woman’s flirting. 

He sipped at his coffee and watched Black head back toward Navigations, White already waiting at the hallway with a digipad under her arm. The two of them fell into step with ease, and White's companion bot zoomed behind like a little duckling. 

Brown sipped his coffee and watched Pink run back into the room with an armful of metal bowls and rubber spatulas. He shook his head and turned from the spectacle to grab something from his medbay. 

Swabs tucked away and coffee half-drained and still hot in his hands, Brown meandered down toward Electrical. He hugged the wall to avoid tripping on any of the spare tools Pink had left strewn around, sure that the man would come back in to clean up after he’d sufficiently appeased Lime’s food-based frustration. 

“Purple” He called out at the doorway of the dark room. Something inside clanked. 

“Sorry if I startled you.” Brown walked in and pulled the still-sealed swabs out of his pocket. “Since we couldn’t get the deep scan yesterday, do you mind if I take a mouth swab? It’s just to double check for bacterial and viral infections, and to make sure you’re not on certain drugs.” 

A metal panel slammed shut, and Brown paused at the edge of the sharp horseshoe turn. He glanced at the river of cables snaking across the floor, and the loops cascading from walls. The room was warm, electronics humming and fans whirring as if the whole place could breathe. 

“Purple?”

“Yes! Yes, sorry, I’m here.” Purple stumbled around the corner and held up their hands. “Sorry, I was really zoned in on something and didn’t hear you come in. What’s up?” 

“May I have a mouth swab?” 

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. 

Purple swallowed - Brown could hear the sound against the room’s soft hum. 

“Um, what’s it- I mean, what will you-” Purple gestured to the swabs in his hand. 

“These just rub against your cheeks and gums for a few seconds, that’s it. It’s not the nose-probing kind.” 

Purple wrung their hands for a moment, then nodded.

Brown kept himself composed a little easier this time, now that their face wasn’t such a surprise. He stayed clinical, set his coffee to the side, opened the package and took his sample. 

Purple’s eyes were definitely brown. 

‘Alright, you’re done.” Brown smiled behind his visor, then realized Purple couldn't see him. He quickly gave a thumbs-up. 

Purple offered him a small smile in return as he tucked the sample away again. 

“Thanks for your patience, I’ll let you know if I find anything.” He hesitated, picking up his coffee again. "Do you want anything from the cafeteria?" He blurted out the offer without really meaning to.

"Ah-" Purple hesitated. "No, I'm good. Thanks?" 

"No problem. Have a great day." Brown gave another thumbs up and strode calmly away and back up to the medbay.

A few minutes later, half the sample was processing through the ship’s analyzer, and Brown had taken off his suit’s gloves and replaced them with more skin-fitting ones in order to create sample slide to view. 

"Want anything from the caf?" He muttered self-mockingly under his breath. "Do you want me to get you anything? Food? Water? Can I fetch you a screwdriver? Can I give you a message? Can I get any more creepy? I'm such an _idiot_.:" He scribbled 'DUM' on is notepad and slapped it to his visor, clunking it down on the table a moment later. He groaned out a sigh, and his breath fogged the inside.

"Stupid." 

He jolted back upright and snatched the sticky note off his face as the medbay doors hissed open.

Pink trotted in with a plate in his hands, helmet’s visor already flipped up to show his bright grin. 

“Hey, can you try both of these and tell me which you like more?” 

Like a Labrador looking for approval, he presented the plate with a few slices of pizza neatly separated on the plate by a red wire. 

“Is that from electrical?” Brown considered the pizza for a long moment in puzzlement.

Oh, he realized, one of them was probably hand-made.

“It was the only thing any of us had on-hand that wouldn’t contaminate the food. It was still in its packaging!” 

Brown sighed past the automatic flags of ‘gaseous leaking of harmful chemicals known to cause cancer’ and ‘wire factories aren’t sanitary, so contaminants would be sealed in with the wires.’ He chose a small piece from each side and flipped up his visor to take a bite. 

The one on the left was darker and crispier on the bottom. It was nice. The pepperoni had even curled up at the edges to be a little crunchy. 

The one on the right had a soft crust all the way through, and the classic soft pepperoni he was used to. 

“They’re good.” He murmured. 

“Yeah,” Pink agreed easily, “But which do you like more?” 

They stood in silence for a few moments while Brown considered. 

Lime was obviously on the side of the meal-maker bots. She had tried to tweak and repair them to stop Red from complaining so many times that she practically loathed the machines, but he knew she was too prideful to let her hard work go to waste. 

Between the options, he did prefer the hand-made one. The variety of texture was a welcome change. 

However, he also knew if they switched to hand-making the foods, one of them would have to _cook_ every day. Otherwise it would become a chore on the roster, and chore-made foods wouldn’t be this good every time. The meal-maker bots were a safer bet in the long run, for edible food. 

“The one on the right.” He tapped the side of the meal-maker bot’s pizza, and Pink’s face lit up. 

“Thanks!!” Pink chirped, and Brown could _hear_ the double-exclamation-points in his voice. 

He hoped the others would have the foresight to vote for the choice that wouldn’t leave them with extra work. As the doors closed, a melodic chime sounded behind him. 

The analyzer was ready. 

He turned back to the sample analyzer and paused. 

He looked at his gloves, and the sheen of cheese grease on them.

.... did he change them before eating?   
He couldn’t recall, and it’s not like he could check the trash chute. 

He changed them with quick nitrile snaps and leaned in to check the samples.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have plotted way to hard for this fic to leave it a oneshot.


	3. Waiting games

White’s companion bot trotted around the cafeteria like a little bean. It ducked under chairs and hopped onto her lap to beg for attention. It was a clever little thing, programmed to offer emotional support on long journeys, and to act as a personal assistant. As the captain of the Skeld, White used it more for the latter than the former, but everyone aboard had gotten so used to seeing it scurry around that they fondly called it her kid. 

At the moment the little bot was in Brown’s lap, chirping a sweet little tune as White retrieved a bottle of alcohol from her private quarters. He patted its head, and helped it back down to the floor when she returned. 

“Cute, isn’t it?” 

Brown glanced up at Black, legs kicked up on the table’s edge and a data pad leaned against her thigh. He nodded, and helped White distribute the cups between the three of them. 

“If you want one, you only have to ask.” 

Black waved away Brown’s offer and swiped to the next page of whatever story she was reading. 

“Just commenting, I don’t want one. They’re needy.” 

White hummed her dissatisfaction, but changed the subject as she poured a finger of whiskey in each of their cups. “Have you noticed anyone complaining of lightheadedness, lately?” 

“What? No, why?” Brown straightened in his seat. 

“Green complained that the filters to and from O2 have been getting clogged faster recently. We have enough filters to rotate through them, but they asked me to check with you, if anyone in a specific part of the ship has been dealing with lower airflow than others.”

Brown shook his head, then paused. 

“Electrical seemed very warm, last I was in there.” 

White nodded. 

“Thanks. It might be nothing - the servers in there run hot, but It’s worth getting Pink or Lime to check out the vents in that area.”

“Might want to ask Purple.” Black spoke up. 

Brown tilted his head in question, and Black elaborated. 

“They’re good at getting into little nooks and crannies. I usually need to get a stick if I drop anything behind the navigation desk, but Purple wiggled their arm and shoulder all the way to the back without a problem. If anyone can get down into the vents, it’s them.” 

White nodded thoughtfully. 

“I’ll ask Purple to help Pink with the inspection, just in case.” 

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying their drink. Black continued to read, and raised her gloved hand to protect the back of her head, just before Pink popped out. 

“Feet off the table,” Pink called, and wound his arm back like he was going to throw something at her. He noticed White at the table, and awkwardly turned the gesture into rubbing the side of his helmet. Pink frowned pointedly at the back of Black’s head, and continued out toward Admin. 

“How’d you know it was him?” Brown asked. 

“He drags his heels.” Black rolled her head back and pulled her feet off the table. One landed on the ground, the other falling extended across White’s lap. White just took another drink and allowed it. 

Black settled in her chair with an air of smug satisfaction, and went back to her book. 

“I thought inter-crew relationships were against policy?” 

White shrugged one shoulder to Brown’s question. 

“I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I was firm on that. I don’t like drama on my ship, but if everyone is being professional about it, then it’s not my business.”

Brown hummed and stared into the last sliver of whiskey still in his cup. He swirled it a little forlornly. 

“I’m not giving you dating advice.” White interrupted sternly. 

“I never asked for it!!” 

White raised a brow at his quick denial, and Brown gulped the last of his drink and slammed his visor shut to hide behind the mirrored film. 

“Anyway, I need to get back to my lab, I’m waiting on some data from planetside. I’ll ask everyone to come in for some questions about the O2 situation, just to double check for any symptoms.” 

He realized fleeing the room like that was more suspicious than anything, but he could  _ feel _ Black laughing at him behind her visor, and he technically wasn’t lying anyway. 

In the sample slide he’d taken from Purple’s mouth the day before, he’d found a kind of organism that he’d never seen before. It could be a bacteria, amoeba, or something else. He wasn’t certain  _ what _ it was. Under his microscope, it looked like several little crystals all shifting together. Straight lines and harsh corners, they refracted light strangely, and moved like a living thing across the slide. 

He’d documented all he could find about it, and let his scanners thoroughly investigate the sample swab. Hoping Purple hadn’t contracted some wild space disease no one had heard of before, Brown had bundled up the analysis and sent it as a data burst. 

In all likelihood, he wouldn’t get a response back for another day or two. He didn’t know if the emergency lab their mission leaders had on the roster were even in the same time zone, let alone if that odd thing was already in their database or not. 

Sure enough, when he made it back to the lab, his console was devoid of a reply. 

Brown tapped out a message and sent it to all crewmates, to report in to Medbay for a quick check-in, sometime today. No scans necessary, he just wanted to ask some questions. At their leisure was fine.

Within a few minutes of sending it, Green strode in and plopped themselves down on one of the medbay beds. 

“Is this about the issue with O2?” They asked bluntly. Brown nodded. 

“White wanted me to check, just in case.” 

“Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better.” Green offered their wrist without complaint, and let Brown take their pulse. 

“Any feelings of dizziness? Unusual forgetfulness? Misplacing items? A feeling of confusion or weakness?” 

Throughout the day, Brown asked those same questions over and over again, and received reassurances and negatives and pestering about why they were having another checkup so soon after the last one. 

Black and Purple were the last to enter the medbay, at the very end of the day. 

“Have you seen my keycard?” Black asked, before Brown could say anything. 

“... Your keycard?” 

“Yeah, I misplaced it. I swore I had it in my wallet this morning, but I might have dropped it somewhere. Have you seen it?” 

Brown shook his head, and Black sighed in irritation. 

“Have you felt confused or-” 

“It’s not an oxygen thing.” Black interrupted. “If you see it, let me know.” She tapped the doorway twice and headed back out. 

Purple stood shly just inside of the doorway, fingers twisting together in clear anxiety. 

Brown stood, and gestured to one of the beds. 

“Don’t worry about her.” He tried to sound reassuring. “I was with her this morning, she was fine. For such a talented pilot, she’s a bit clumsy. I heard you helped her grab something behind the nav console, lately?”

Purple seemed to relax a little with Brown’s absent words, and let him take their pulse without complaint. 

“Yes, a charging cable.” 

“Black said you were very nimble, to be able to get past there.” 

Purple hunched their shoulders a little, and Brown was quick to reassure it was a compliment. 

“I have to work in small spaces a lot.” Purple mumbled. “So I’m used to it.” 

Brown tried to offer a friendly vibe through his suit. 

“Same questions, then. Any dizziness lately?” 

Purple shook their head. Brown went down the list of questions and released Purple back into the hallway when he was done with the heart and lung checks. 

(Even the pulse in their wrist beat triplicate, and Brown really shouldn’t have been so fascinated.) 

Brown turned back to his console to check for an update from planetside, and still there was nothing. 

He jumped when he realized Purple was still standing in the doorway, watching him. He expected the nervous engineer to flee the moment they were free. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you, did you need anything?” 

Purple stood as a silhouette for a long moment. The only thing between them was the subtle drone of the ship’s engines and the medbay’s many machines. 

Brown felt his spine prickle. 

They suddenly shook their head no, and walked away. 

Brown tapped his thumb against his thigh thoughtfully. Maybe they wanted to ask something, but were shy? Why were they staring, anyway?

Could they-

He shook his head. 

No, no, that was ridiculous. He was an idiot with a one-sided crush. He didn’t even  _ know _ Purple all that well. He shouldn’t project like that. 

Don’t read into things unnecessarily. 


	4. It happened in the night

Brown woke to a pounding headache. 

His skull throbbed with it, pressure crushing down behind his eyeballs and through the roots of his teeth. He sucked in a breath and pressed his knuckles to his temples, curling in on himself in an automatic flinch away from the ringing in his ears.

A moment later, he realized it wasn’t just in his ears. 

Around him, others crawled from their bunks with annoyed words about the early hour and impatiently sealed masks. Brown vaguely registered surprise that Purple was among them. 

“Up and at ‘em, doc. Black called an emergency meeting.” Pink’s voice was way too cheerful for the early hour, and Brown groaned as his sluggish brain registered what that shrill alarm meant. 

He was the last to arrive in the cafeteria, skeleton aching with every step dragged out of him. He kept his eyes half-shut against the painful lights that kept spiking across his vision. The  _ second  _ this meeting was over, he was going to drown himself in migraine medicine and go back to bed. When he realized no one was talking, he forced himself to look up from the floor and endure the blindingly bright overhead lights. 

It took him a second to understand what he was seeing. 

Black had her helmet off. 

Hair frizzed out in a mess that was entirely uncharacteristic, dark skin several shades paler than he remembered her being, Brown wondered if he needed to take her to the medbay. 

“Well?” Red asked beside him, and Brown reluctantly lifted his visor. 

“Sorry, I have a killer headache. Didn’t hear. Did you have a question?” It hurt to speak louder than a whisper, and Red’s tense shoulders didn’t relax.

“She said; White’s dead. Her body’s in Security.” 

“Oh.” Brown clenched his eyes shut and took a breath to nod slowly. Shock settled like an electric halo around his already fuzzy brain. 

Dead? 

She was healthy in her last checkup. A little hypertension from the stress of her job, but not something that ought to cause a heart attack or sudden stroke. He hoped it wasn’t something he’d missed. 

Guilt crawled hot and angry in his throat. Gods, he hoped it wasn’t something he missed. 

“Let’s go.” Brown whispered, and left his visor up despite the pain. 

Black led the way with Pink cautiously at her side. His arms kept hovering like he wanted to hug her, or let her lean in, but didn’t want to overreach his welcome. Brown just stared at the back of Black’s pack and let his mind empty. 

White was… 

dead?

Security’s doors were unlocked and open. Lights off. 

Inside, the many monitors to view the ship’s cameras were still on, and the camera outside Security’s door was still blinking its red ‘Live’ feature. Brown could see their huddled crowd on one of the monitors. 

Black stopped at the doorway, hands clenched into the fabric of her suit’s forearms. She didn’t look into the room, instead keeping her gaze on the floor where flickering shadows spread like living things. 

Still in Security’s only chair and illuminated blue by the monitor’s screens, was White. 

Their Captain was sitting upright, as if still watching the screens. One hand was in her lap, the other hanging beside the chair. Both feet on the floor. She looked like she was just intently focused.

Brown stepped into the room, and ignored the whispers behind him. He didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity to deal with anything else at the moment. He gently unsealed and flipped her visor up, and felt his chest clench at her unfocused eyes and slack face. 

He took off his glove and carefully tilted her head, pausing at the unusual bruising already present. He noted it, and pressed his fingertips against her corteroid artery. No flutter of life beat its wings within her veins. Her skin was cool, muscles in her neck noticeably stiffer than they ought to be. However, he could still move it, and her arm was still limp. Rigor Mortis was just beginning to set in, which meant her death happened sometime between 2 and 6 hours ago - likely sooner rather than later. 

He stared for a moment at the mark on her neck, and swallowed past a knot in his own throat. He pulled her visor back down. The crew didn’t need to see her like this. 

“I’ll need to bring her body to the medbay for examination. Can someone help?"

He heard Black’s choked sob behind him, and Pink murmuring something. 

Red and Green carefully maneuvered White’s body into Red’s arms, the two of them keeping it steady. 

“Everyone else, please clear out. Go back to the Cafeteria or to your quarters. I’ll have more information later.” 

It was hard to keep his voice steady but with Black so distraught, he doubted she was in any position to take the lead. 

“She really is dead, then?” It was Yellow, his meek voice barely heard over the sound of shuffling feet. 

Brown hated that he had to say “Yes.” 

\--

Hours later, with the majority of the pain at bay due to a combination of caffeine and powerful painkillers, Brown concluded the scan on White’s body. The medbay scanner confirmed faint bruising on her throat, consistent with applied pressure to the corteroid artery and jugular vein. Strangulation. 

It didn’t take much to kill someone with that. Unlike choking, where something crushed or blocked the trachea and stopped breathing, Strangulation stopped blood flow to and from the brain. 

It was… unsettlingly precise. 

Deliberate. 

It only took 11 pounds of pressure to close off the corteroid artery. 4.5 pounds to pinch the jugular vein. With those both closed, a person could be made unconscious in under 20 seconds. Permanent brain damage started after a minute, and death could take anywhere from two to five minutes. Easy to do when the person was already unconscious. 

The average person’s grip strength ranged from 50 to 100 lbs. 

Fuck. 

Brown noted his observations in the death alert to send planetside the moment the Skeld neared a comms station that could pass it on, and tried to massage away the stress blooming his headache back to life. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Fuck. 

He didn’t realize Cyan had entered the medbay until the man had rapped his knuckles on the countertop next to him. 

“Can I check something?” Cyan asked, with his usual brusqueness. 

Brown nodded, but watched closely as Cyan picked open White’s pocket and reached in and delicately drew out White’s card holder. 

The neat clip only held them by its very tip, and Cyan showed Brown before pulling the cards out and spreading them across the counter. 

“Keycard’s missing.” Cyan voiced aloud just as Brown made the same realization. 

Brown looked up at Cyan’s helmet, wishing he could see the other’s expression. Cyan seemed to glance at him, then gathered the cards and slid them gently back into their clip. He replaced them in White’s suit pocket, and took a small step away from her body. 

“Black said she lost her keycard yesterday. Said White volunteered to check the cam records late last night to see if anyone was accessing areas they shouldn’t have. Said White took a weirdly long time, so Black went to check on her. Found her in the chair, thought she was asleep, but wouldn’t wake. Checked her pulse. Freaked out for a bit, then pulled the alarm.”

Concise, Direct, and exactly what Brown needed.

“Is someone with her?” 

Cyan gave him a look. 

“For support,” Brown explained. “They were…. Close.” 

Cyan nodded. 

“Pink’s sticking with her.” 

Brown exhaled a long breath, glad his helmet prevented him from rubbing his face. He wanted to, but needed his composure a bite more right now. He still clenched and unclenched his hands. 

Cyan watched him for a few long moments, then stuck his hands in his own pockets. 

“Murder, huh?” 

Brown looked at him sharply. 

“You’re not the kind of person to be this freaked out over a stroke.” Cyan jerked one shoulder in a forced shrug. “Plus, White and I are the only ones that are supposed to be able to enter that room. White’s too careful to leave shit unlocked, and I went to bed early.”

Brown nodded. 

“I don’t want to cause a panic, but…. Yes. Someone killed her. The methods don’t narrow anyone down.” 

“I have a feeling I should check the tapes,” Cyan noted, “But I’ll need backup. Let me know when you can join me.” 

Brown felt a spike of irritation. He still had to prepare White’s body, and his headache had only reluctantly subsided. He was in no shape to-

“I trust you to watch my back.” Cyan interrupted his train of thought with an admission that stunned him. Cyan was notoriously aloof, coldly neutral at the best of times, downright unfriendly at the worst. As their security officer, this mission was supposed to be an easy one. A vacation from the violent areas he’d worked in prior. His presence was meant to be for pick-up and drop-off of their cargo. 

Not…. this. 

Brown rolled his shoulders and nodded sharply. 

“I need to finish some things up here, but I’ll give you a call when I’m free.”

Cyan gave a small wave over his shoulder as he left the room. 

“See you then.”

Back in the darkness of Security, a pale little body glinted blue in the digital light cast by still-running monitors. White’s companion bot sat inert on the ground, sitting under the chair as if waiting for its person to return. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry ;A;


	5. Buddies

White’s companion bot sat heavy in his arms as Cyan delivered the news. It kept watching blankly, AI recording and analyzing. Brown wished he could access the little memory banks, pick apart the analysis happening in microns and milliseconds, ask the voiceless thing what it saw. 

But access to companion bots assigned to White’s level of clearance was limited to the main bases, not a cargo ship like the Skeld. 

“Tapes are tampered with. All recent edits were made under White’s login, so it must have happened before Black found them.” Cyan’s voice was grim, shoulders stiff as he sat in the chair they’d found White in. It felt disrespectful, somehow. 

“We should pair up.” Cyan continued, scrolling through the footage between himself leaving the security office, a long space of people passing the locked room without pause, and then White entering the room. “It’d be safer that way, as long as everyone-” 

He stopped on his fourth loop through the footage, mask tilting minutely. 

Brown just rubbed his thumb over a small scuff on the bot’s head. His own skull still throbbed quietly, the faint headache demanding to be recognized. 

“Do you see that?”

Brown looked up.

“See what?” 

Cyan just leaned in, zooming as much as he could to the hall’s feed just a few moments after White entered and locked the sliding door behind her. Frame by frame, he flicked through the feed. 

“There.” Cyan’s gloved finger darted up to the screen, and his other hand keyed back a few frames. “This is White’s shadow, moving toward the cams.” He pointed to a slightly darker few pixels along the edge of the closed door.

“And this-” He moved his finger to point to another dark patch that shifted slightly as he keyed through the frames. “This has to be someone else.” He rewound and flipped through it several more times, watching the dark shapes move.

“Could it be the bot?” Brown offered quietly. 

“I don’t think it is.” 

Cyan stood and turned to face the other end of the room. Brown twisted as well, and found only the crowded, narrow desk and uncomfortable looking chair he saw when he first entered. Cyan prowled over there regardless. He paused at the door, angling himself for a moment toward the monitors. Gestured with his arms, widened them, and dropped one arm to point at the corner with the other. 

“Brown, go stand on that vent.” 

He did so, and Cyan nodded. 

“Entering from the door, if you don’t look around first, that corner is a complete blind spot. Even with the lights on, I can’t see you in my peripherals.” 

Brown hugged the bot a bit tighter. If the Captain had been focused on the monitors, and the other person stayed very still, it’s possible they hid in here and killed White. His mind drifted to Purple’s readouts, the strange heartbeat, but he shook it off quickly. 

He was being foolish. Aliens weren’t real. The base on Polis had returned nothing but lava samples and geodes for months since they’d set up. Having one appear on this ship out of nowhere would be ridiculous. 

Purple was just… strange. 

He watched Cyan kick at the vent’s edge, then pry it up by a creaking hinge. 

“Think someone could fit down here?” The security officer asked. 

Brown shuffled over and peeked down into the dusty hole. He shook his head. He’d have trouble fitting both his legs down that hole, let alone his hips and shoulders. Even a child would have to wiggle like a snake - there was just no way. 

“What’s that computer for?” He found himself asking, gesturing to the little laptop on the table. 

“Higher clearance messages. White gets them forwarded to her bot,-” Cyan nodded to the machine in Brown’s arms. -”from Comms.” 

Cyan tilted his head, mirrored visor reflecting the room in a distorted panorama. He sighed, the movement slumping his broad shoulders. 

“Well, we should let the crew know, regardless. Get them to buddy up and start safety protocols.” He folded his thick arms and jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s go.” 

The lock clicked behind them. 

* * *

It was easy enough to gather everyone. They’d been on edge since White had been found. Green and Pink stood to either side of Black’s hunched form, the woman’s helmet firmly back in place. The two of them spoke in low tones, shoulders bumping together. 

Blue and Red stuck together grumpily on the opposite side of the table, while Yellow and Purple seemed to be feeding off each other’s anxiety, both fidgeting in place. Yellow kept looking around the room, head whipping between the people and the doors, while Purple seemed more concerned with curling up on the bench and hiding behind their helmet. 

Brown considered the helmets that turned as one to face him. The nervousness, anger, fear, showing in shoulders and clenched fists and bodies curled in defensively. 

He clutched the bot a bit tighter to his chest. 

Cyan cleared his throat. 

“Doctor? Autopsy report?” 

Brown felt his gut churn, and the throbbing in his skull kick up a few notches. 

“Right. Autopsy.” He murmured, and took a slow breath. “Captain White was murdered.” He stated plainly, and tried to speak past the small noises of shock. “Strangled to death, likely from behind.” 

“Any clues?” Brown wasn’t sure who asked it, but shook his head. It felt like there was something loose jangling around his skull.

“Nothing concrete. Cyan had some plans to increase safety until we could narrow it down. Cyan?” 

Brown took a small step sideways, letting the larger man take the spotlight. 

He did so, outlining his plans for a buddy system, for regular check ins when one was at their station. No one seemed particularly pleased, but sorted out among themselves who would be paired with whom. 

Pink and Black, Blue and Red, Lime and Cyan, Green and Yellow…Brown was busy fighting off the mounting headache and had forgotten to speak up. Apparently, that left him and Purple together. 

Unfortunately, he was too uncomfortable and too distraught to relish the idea. 

“Stick with your buddy.” Cyan reiterated. “Look for clues, but don’t stray too far from your normal stations. Speak up if you see something suspicious. It’ll take the whole team.” 

The crew murmured their agreement. It’d be better if they could work together to find the person who did it. 

Red raised his hand. Cyan’s helmet tilted, but he gestured to let the other man speak. 

“55 percent of murders are done by intimate partners.” Red curled the words over his tongue, head rolling up and sideways as if watching Black out of the corner of his eye. 

“What-?” Black hardly breathed the word before Lime stood, took two sharp steps into Red’s space, grabbed the front of his suit, and shoved him hard enough that Red flailed back and fell sprawling off the bench. 

“What the Fuck, you-” 

Lime cut Red’s exclaimation short with another thumping step toward him.

“How dare you.” She hissed. “What kind of monster are you? Are you that cruel, or just  _ stupid _ ?” 

Red was halfway to his feet when Green inserted themselves between the two of them.

“Enough, enough. Please, let’s talk.” 

Lime glowered at Red over Green’s shoulder, and Brown didn’t miss how Green had their back to Lime, arms spread as if defending her from Red. 

“She attacked me!” Red snapped, and Green nodded. 

“Yes, and we’ll handle it through normal protocall. Let’s all step back and look at this situation carefully.” 

Lime mimed cracking her knuckles and Green turned to her. 

“You. Stop.” 

“Playing white knight isn’t a flattering look.” 

“You shut your mouth.”

Red curled his lip at Green’s admonishing finger in his face, and climbed to his feet. He gestured to Blue, and the two of them left the cafeteria. 

“Remember to check in!” Cyan called, and Blue raised a hand in acknowledgement. 

Brown closed his eyes and breathed through the hazy spots wavering in the corners of his vision. 

-

* * *

Back in Medbay, Brown sent himself through the scanner again. 

The invasive light felt… prickly. Uncomfortable, like something crawling along the marrow of his bones. 

His results flashed up on his monitors, but the second round of migraine-level painkillers hadn’t pushed away whatever was fucking in his head. He needed a moment to rest his eyes, he’d see the readout in a moment. 

Brown sat on the edge of one of the cots and pressed the heels of his gloves into the edges of his brow ridge. Anything to try to push back the painful pressure. He squished his eyeballs, ground his knuckles into his temples, thumped his fingers into the back of his skull, but nothing really helped. 

He finally peeled his eyes open and squinted toward the screens. 

Like mist banking over a hill, something strange bloomed in the corner of the Medbay. 

Brown turned his head slowly, assessing how his gaze reacted to it. 

His headache still throbbed dully, slowing his reactions, but that didn’t stop his hands from clenching tight on the bunk’s edges when he recognized the whispy edges of White’s silhouette. 

She was translucent - like white ink dripped into water - just standing, floating, swirling next to where he’d set her companion bot. Her hands brushed over it, visor angled down.

“White?”

He spoke softly, convinced he was hallucinating. 

The specter didn’t respond, but the fading tails of her form drifted a bit closer to his cot. 

He reached out a hand, fingers slowly stretching for the whispy edge of a white suit. 

The Medbay doors slid open, and White vanished like a breath exhaled into winter. 

He stared at the wall for a long, dumbstruck second. 

“Did you see-?” He started, and found Purple standing in the doorway, their fingers wound together in a tight knot. 

“See?” Purple parroted nervously. Brown stared dumbly at them, and Purple hunched a bit tighter, clearly avoiding eye contact. 

“You, um, vanished after the meeting. We… we’re supposed to be buddies? I still have some stuff to do in Electrical, if you’re done?” 

“Right.” Brown’s brain felt sluggish still, but for the first time in hours the  _ pressure  _ seemed to have bled off. The faint thumping was still there, but no longer skull-splitting. 

Maybe the meds were finally kicking in. 

“Buddies.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yo I really appreciate comments, even if it’s just a key smash :)


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